Yankelovich Studies "Going Green"

Despite unwavering focus by the media, government and business, "going green" is only of moderate concern to most consumers, according to recent Yankelovich research.

Yankelovich’s survey of 2,763 consumers and their environmental attitudes found that only one-third (34 percent) of consumers feel much more concerned about environmental issues today than a year ago. And, less than one quarter (22 percent) of consumers feel they can make a difference when it comes to the environment.

"GOING Green," conducted in collaboration with Getty images, was the first study of its kind to examine how much consumers really care about green issues.

"Consumers are not drinking the Kool-Aid when it comes to green," says J. Walker Smith, president of Yankelovich. "While they’re highly aware of the environmental issues due to the glut of media attention, the simple fact is that ‘going green’ in their everyday life is simply not a big concern or a high priority."

Take Al Gore’s book, An Inconvenient Truth. Even though it received widespread acclaim from media and scientists alike, 82 percent of consumers neither saw the film nor read it. In addition, Smith asserts that consumers are far more knowledgeable about green than they’re generally given credit for. For example, Al Gore’s "10 Myths" in An Inconvenient Truth are not considered myths by consumers at all. According to the GOING Green survey: only seven percent of consumers believe Gore’s "Myth" that it’s already too late to do something about climate change; only four percent believe global warming is a good thing, and only eight percent agree that the warming that scientists are recording is just the effect of cities trapping heat rather than anything t do with greenhouse gases.

Despite most consumers’ lukewarm attitudes about "going green," Smith says that companies can—and should—exploit the "green-ness" of their products. Why? First, while the environment is not a mainstream consumer concern, it does represent a niche opportunity in the marketplace, with just over 30 million Americans (13 percent of the 234 million people 16-plus) "strongly concerned" about it.

Second—and equally important—if organizations are required to meet strict Federal and State environmental regulations—often at huge expense—it makes sense to try and leverage the ‘new and improved’ green product to consumers. The good news for companies is that while the majority of consumers’ attitudes towards the environment may be only of moderate concern, it is possible to change consumers’ behavior so that the green attitudes of a product become a key feature in the buying decision.

"Where companies are currently falling short with their green marketing strategy is that they’re failing to establish a personal connection with the consumer, in other words, consumers currently have no knowledge of what green means or has to offer to them," Smith says. The Yankelovich Marketing Action Framework below illustrates the degree to which all consumers—from "Green-less" to "Green Enthusiasts"—are currently likely to buy a product based on its green features.

"To make a green marketing strategy successful, organizations must employ behavioral tactics that move consumers up the continuum to greater levels of ‘green-ness,’ " Smith says. "Marketers who focus on these segments in isolation will not change consumers’ green behavior."